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Brak the Barbarian
Brak the Barbarian is a fantasy novel by John Jakes featuring his sword and sorcery hero of the same name. It was first published in paperback by Avon Books in July 1968. The chapters titled "The Courts of the Conjurer" and "Ghosts of Stone" originally appeared as in different form as the "The Pillars of Chambalor" and "The Silk of Shaitan" in the magazine "Fantastic Stories", in v. 14, no. 3, March 1965, and v. 14, no. 4, April 1965, respectively. The April issue featured the Brak story in its title illustration. The novel was reprinted by Pocket Books in July 1977, and by Tower Books in April 1981. The first trade paperback edition was published by e-reads.com in 1999. British editions were issued by Tandem in 1970 (reprinted in 1976) and Star/W. H. Allen in December 1987. It was later gathered together with The Mark of the Demons and two stories from The Fortunes of Brak into the omnibus collection Brak the Barbarian / Mark of the Demons, published as an ebook by Open Road Integrated Media in July 2012. The novel has been translated into German Plot Brak, a blond, braided and broadsword-wielding barbarian from the frozen north, is an outcast from his people for questioning the traditional war gods. He seeks to reach the glorious southern realm of Khurdisan the Golden, rumors of which have reached even his country. His first stop is the city of Kambda Kai, once great but now afflicted by worshipers of the demon god Yob-Haggoth. Here too his religious skepticism gets Brak in trouble, immediately bringing him into conflict with the corrupt and evil cult. He wins free, but the demon worshipers and their foul monsters infest all the lands between him and his goal, and in consequence every step of his journey brings new challenges, including the soul-taking Septegundus and the witch Ariane. The novel (and indeed the series) deals with Brak's episodic quest as he overcomes threat after threat, with the dream of Khurdisan ever before him. Brak the Barbarian edit Brak the Barbarian (1968) A warrior forced to battle the evil that thwarts his destiny, Brak must combat sorcery and plagues as he journeys south to Khurdisan. Before reaching this paradise city, he must hack his way through the obstacle after obstacle as he passes through unknown lands. But between his broadsword and heart he is able to overcome certain death at the hands of monsters like Septegundus (capturer of souls) and Ariane (a spellbinding witch). Now his life lies in the hands of fate ? It is great to see these John Jakes' Brak novels available as digital editions -Good heroic fantasy in the shadow of Conan. just don't understand why they didn't package them in the correct order. This volume contains the first and third Brak novels, along with some bonus material from the fifth novel. The next collection collects the 2nd and 4th novels along with more bonus material from the 5th....odd, no? Brak's adventures are good heroic fantasy in the shadow of Conan. The action moves along well, and the setting is full of "swords and sorcery". Brak himself is a tribute to Conan and is a wandering Barbarian along those same lines - but with a few differences. Beyond the cosmetic changes of Blonde hair in a long braid and a lion pelt loin cloth, Brak tends to suffer physically much more than Conan. He is often beaten and bloody almost to point of death in many of his adventures. As well, Brak tends to suffer a little more from fear of the supernatural than does our good Conan - though Brak does most often channel that fear into a berserker fury - and that can be off putting if you come to the novels looking for a barbarian who laughs his way through his battles. John Jakes is a good writer and obviously enjoys telling the tales of Brak, which makes these books well worth the read. Brak the Barbarian Versus the Sorceress (1969) Brak the Barbarian Versus the Mark of the Demons (1969) Braving the ice marshes, Brak seeks his fortune in fabled Khurdisan Of all the northern barbarians, none is more fearsome than Brak. Cast out by his tribe for daring to question their war-gods, he leaves the frozen north with plunder on his mind. Somewhere in the south, the legends say, lies Khurdisan—a golden land of sunshine, riches, and dark-skinned women. It will be a battle to get there, but battle is all Brak knows. In Brak the Barbarian, Brak seeks refuge in Kambda Kai, a once-great city brought to ruin by its worship of the demon god Yob-Haggoth. So wretched is the town that even its children know dark magic, and Brak will have to be quick with his broadsword to survive. In Mark of the Demons, Brak staggers across the desert of Logol, his pony dead, his food exhausted. There he meets a strange pair of highborn twins, whose throne has been stolen by a usurper. Can he trust them? He has no choice, if he wants to escape the wasteland alive. ☀1960's white male fantasy. Lovely women, hot grease covered chunks of meat, huge broadsword, a half-naked warrior, battles, blood, EVIL! You get the picture. A book full of short stories - Brak was tossed out of his homeland for making fun of their Gods. Now him and his huge sword roam south, towards paradise called Khurdisan. How do you even SAY that? He gets in trouble with an Evil God that sounds like something out of Lovecraft and spends most of his time saving people and doing good. A good story if you do not wish to think and want second-rate fantasy by a author who loved Conan, The Mouser and Fafhrd, and Cugel - whoever that is. This ebook bundle contains additional stories featuring Brak the Barbarian, as well as an illustrated biography of John Jakes including rare images from the author’s personal collection. It is great to see these John Jakes' Brak novels available as digital editions - just don't understand why they didn't package them in the correct order. This volume contains the first and third Brak novels, along with some bonus material from the fifth novel. The next collection collects the 2nd and 4th novels along with more bonus material from the 5th....odd, no? Brak's adventures are good heroic fantasy in the shadow of Conan. The action moves along well, and the setting is full of "swords and sorcery". Brak himself is a tribute to Conan and is a wandering Barbarian along those same lines - but with a few differences. Beyond the cosmetic changes of Blonde hair in a long braid and a lion pelt loin cloth, Brak tends to suffer physically much more than Conan. He is often beaten and bloody almost to point of death in many of his adventures. As well, Brak tends to suffer a little more from fear of the supernatural than does our good Conan - though Brak does most often channel that fear into a berserker fury - and that can be off putting if you come to the novels looking for a barbarian who laughs his way through his battles. John Jakes is a good writer and obviously enjoys telling the tales of Brak, which makes these books well worth the read. Brak is going a wandering with a destination in mind. He is definitely the grim and dour sort of barbarian, and not too trusting with the ladies, unlike some others. He has problems with servants of a Cthulhoid deity, some enslavement, Doomdogs, Fangfish, and does a queen a big favour after she saves him. He doesn't trust himself enough with women to stay with so off he goes on his barbarian sword carrying ways. This in some early John Jakes, before he got big with the historical fiction and was doing the sci-fi/fantasy stuff. I've been a fan of the Character for nearly forty years and really enjoyed Zelazny's reading. His brak is just a step away from R.E. Howards classic fantasy characters. A good read and fun to listen to. When the Idols Walked (1978) ISBN 0-671-81373-0 The Fortunes of Brak (1980) Brak the Barbarian / Mark of the Demons (omnibus) (2012) Witch of the Four Winds / When the Idols Walked (omnibus) (2012) On the Road to Khurdisan: Brak the Barbarian by John Jakes Tuesday, October 28th, 2014 | Posted by Fletcher Vredenburgh oie_2702648M0L78hhBFor people of a certain age (the pushing-fifty crowd) John Jakes is probably best known for The Kent Family Chronicles, his massive series of massive books about American history and the mini-series made from the first one, The Bastard. Hearing that title said out loud on TV was a pretty shocking thing for us kids back in 1978. It wasn’t until I was a little older that I discovered John Jakes had started his career as a real journeyman pulp writer. While working in advertising, he wrote science fiction, westerns, mystery, and horror stories for all the major genre magazines. His name appears on the contents page of Fantastic Adventures and Amazing Stories, as well as Tales of the Frightened (easily one of my favorite titles for anything ever). While Robert E. Howard had created the basic template for swords & sorcery back in the 1930s, it wasn’t until several decades later that the genre really exploded. Fritz Leiber and Sprague de Camp labored throughout the 50s, but it’s in the early 60s that S&S really takes off. Suddenly, Lin Carter’s writing his Howard/Edgar Rice Burroughs mashups, Michael Moorcock’s inverting and mocking many of the field’s cliches while still writing exciting tales, and Andre Norton is expanding S&S’s vison beyond the too-common male thud and blunder. In 1963, with “Devils in the Walls” published in Fantastic, Jakes introduced his own barbarian hero, Brak. In a 1980 preface to a new editon of the first collection of stories, Brak the Barbarian (1968), he wrote: It was in the role of dedicated Conan fan that I wrote the first Brak tale, Devils in the Walls. In spirit, anyway, the story was a Howard pastiche, and I have acknowledged the fact more than once. In an earlier preface he was explicit about why he created Brak: My motive for giving birth to Brak and his parallel universe on an old black iron Underwood was much simpler. There just are not enough stories of this kind to go around any more; not enough, anyway, to please me. To help fill this dismal gap well or badly — I hope never indifferently — my barbarian, with the long yellow braid and the light of the south horizons glittering in his eyes, was born. Over the years, I’ve seen Brak dismissed as simply one of the many Conan-clones that appeared during S&S’s heady golden age from the 60s to early 80s. I’m here to tell you that, while Brak the Barbarian isn’t going to change your world, nor that it’s some sadly underrated classic, it is a fun way to kill a couple of hours. While Jakes’s prose is fairly humdrum, he does excel at creating terrific opponents and monsters. The plots of the last two stories are almost very good, something the shopworn ones of the first three aren’t. Brak’s stories are a lesser S&S vintage, but they sure aren’t vinegar; instead a solid pretty alright house wine. If one of the reasons you read heroic fantasy is to escape to exotic lands crawling with savage beasts, wicked sorcerors, and evil femme fatales where the hero’s fate relies on a strong arm and quick thinking, then oie_2814311nQk7Qyo7 this is a book for you. At the very least, for a sense of where S&S was in between REH’s day and our own, this is worth a look. At the start, Brak is your standard-issue northern barbarian. Clad in a lion skin loincloth and a heavy fur robe, he is making his way south to the sunnier climes of golden Khurdisan. Enticed by stories of a warm land filled with gold, women, and adventure, and banished by his own people for not treating their customs or gods reverently, in “The Unspeakable Shrine” he has lit out from his homelands in the frozen north. Over the course of that story and the four that follow, Brak covers the first leg of his southward trek finding, of course, all manner of obstacles along the way. On his first night in the very first city he’s ever seen, Brak runs afoul of two evil immortals: the sorceror Septegundus and his daughter Ariane. He is captured by their servants in the squalid streets of Kambda Kai. Brak’s captors are the first indication of Jakes’s talent for creating grotesque enemies for his hero: The boys formed a half-circle just up the street. They were ragtag, underfed, dirty-skinned waifs with straggly hair and pointed wolf’s teeth. The big barbarian noticed with a start that something was amiss in their faces. Where eyepits should have been, each boy carried two silver-crystal disks somehow embedded between eyebrow and cheekbone. Their fingertips, too, were made of this silver-crystal stuff, pointed, like needles. After his unsuccesful encounter with Septugundus’s minions, he ends up imprisoned, inside a gigantic idol of the demon-god Yob Haggoth, and ready to be served up for dinner. Fortunately, Brak’s well-formed physique and indomitable spirit catch Ariane’s eye. Inadvertenly, she provides him with the means of his eventual escape. Pretty standard old school S&S fare, in other words. BRKTHBRBRB1977 The next two stories, “Flame-Face” and “The Courts of the Conjurer”, are equally run-of-the-mill. Brak is enslaved in fiery mines haunted by the terrible Doomdog (one of Jakes’s terrible monster names) in the first, and hired to kill a wizard protected by the Fangfish (boom! another terrible monster name) in the second. Neither story is particularly noteworthy, but Brak starts to take shape during them: though unimpressed by his deity, Brak insists on proper burial for a kindly priest he encounters in his travels; even as she’s stabbing him with a dagger, Brak is almost constitutionally unable to kill a young woman; he feels serious fear during some of his encounters and loses many of his fights. Maybe I’m being generous, and sure, Brak always wins in the end, but I like that there’s a touch of fallibility to a pretty stock character. With the last two stories, “Ghosts of Stone” and “The Barge of Souls”, Brak’s tales become a little more memorable. In the first, Brak loses his pony and becomes helplessly stranded in a desert he was warned quite emphatically to avoid. The advent of a greedy old scholar in search of an ancient treasure, and accompanied by his daughter, lead the blond warrior into further danger as he’s forced to help open the vaults of a city cursed long ago by Septegundus. In “The Barge of Souls,” easily the best story in the book, Brak wanders a haunted battlefield, is forced to impersonate a dead royal consort, and saves a young queen and her kingdom. While Jakes does find time for a fight with a giant scaled slug, there’s more going on in “The Barge of Souls” than in any of the other stories. Brak’s characterization grows considerably as we see him take on the burden of righting several wrongs and repaying a great debt not with bloodshed, but backbreaking menial labor. Jakes clearly has laid down a marker that his hero will be a good guy, lacking the more roguish and mercenary traits of his forebear Conan. Jakes’s writing also gains a little more life in these two stories. The generic landscape and feel of the earlier stories is replaced by a better sense of place and atmosphere. There’s a great passage when Brak is crossing the corpse-littered battlefield: Riding in the smoke all day long, Brak occasionally heard a moan of pain from some survivor. Twice he reined in. Twice he attempted to locate the source of the cry. Each time, tricks of illusive gray light, of shifting smoke, of silk banners tattered but flapping, bedeviled him. Each time he became hopelessly lost, and failed to locate the wounded man. On three other occasions, Brak passed ghostly parties of men silently crossing the battleground. The men carried tapers that winked eerily in the blowing smoke. They halloed to one another. Burial parties from Phrixos? So Brak assumed. oie_2814112EkSsR8ra Maybe I’m a voice in the wilderness, but I like this book. Not a lot and I’ll probably never read it all the way through again. But I do like it. In the absence of more Conan stories, John Jakes set out to make his own contribution to S&S instead of waiting around for someone else to do it for him. He’s got a feel for the stuff in a way that Sprague de Camp never did or that Lin Carter was rarely able to convey. He also took it at face value, understanding that it’s okay to write no-frills heroic fantasy that isn’t seeeking to deconstruct the genre. Sometimes wizard- and monster-killing is just what readers need. Jakes was also a a charter member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers’ Guild of America (SAGA), the group founded by Lin Carter to promote S&S. The initial members also included Poul Anderson, Sprague de Camp, Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorcock, Andre Norton, and Jack Vance. That’s pretty prestigious company to be in. The old paperbacks of the Brak series (Brak the Barbarian, Brak Versus the Sorceress, Mark of the Demons, When Idols Walked, and The Fortunes of Brak) are easily found and are also available as a two-volume ebook release from 2012. BONUS: Here’s a short video of Jakes talking about his loincloth-wearing hero. A tip of the hat to Paul McNamee for hipping me to it. http://video.openroadmedia.com/QAfAq/brak-the-barbarian-by-john-jakes/ Posted in Blog Entry, Books, Reviews, Series Fantasy, Vintage Treasures COMICS Real Name: Brak Identity/Class: Human; citizenship: Unidentified region/nation in the north of a parallel Earth in an extradimensional realm (Earth-73012). Occupation: Traveler, mercenary Group Membership: None Affiliations: Friar Jerome, Jonel, Tyresias Enemies: Ariane, Darters, Septegundus, Valena, Yob-Haggoth Known Relatives: None Aliases: None Base of Operations: Mobile; active in several towns and nations whose level of civilization is similar to the one during the early Roman Empire, Earth-73012. First Appearance: Chamber of Chills#2 (January, 1973); reprinted in Savage Tales#5 (July, 1974); {for Italian readers: Thor#78/4 Editoriale Corno (9 aprile 1974)} Powers/Abilities Brak was a strong and courageous man, able to use a broadsword and to ride a horse. He did not have superhuman or supernatural abilities, but his natural physical skill and his training put him over the average of the warriors of his era. He was used to living in cold lands and could bear low temperatures even only wearing an animal skin around his waist. Weaknesses: His sense of honor and charity put him in situations of disadvantage against tricky, sinister and evil encounters. However, his instinct let him perceive hidden danger and counteract them. head shot History: (Savage Tales I#7/2 (fb) - BTS) - Brak lived in the north. He was strong, blonde, stout and correct as many of his people, but unlike them, he didn't worship the gods of war. Brak didn't worship any god. One day, a wandering shaman passing from Brak's village told him about the rest of the world, and in particular, about the golden city of Khurdisan under a golden sun. Brak was dazzled from visions of rich kingdoms and cities, and in him the desire for the golden city grew strong. So, when Brak's people banished him for his blasphemy, Brak knew where to go, and started his long trek to south, dreaming about Khurdisan. The tail(Savage Tales I#7/2) - When Brak reached the Ice Marches he saw, for the very first time in his life, a city, Kamda Kai, capital city. The clash with the civilization was nauseating and fetid and became even worse when he met the worshippers of an abominable god, Yob-Haggoth. During the night, tricked by a sinister beggar who proclaimed the death of the nameless god, Brak found himself surrounded by a group of dreadful, apparently blind children, acolytes of Yob-Haggoth, who called themselves Darters. Brak's status as an unbeliever of any god made him interesting for the group of silver-eyed boys, so when he firmly refused their offer to bow to their god, he found out that the hellish youths had chosen him as sacrificial victim for Yob-Haggoth. Brak unsheathed his broadsword only to be crippled by the sparkling power of the children, who launched silver streams of light to Brak. His skin was so stung by myriads of lances of fire that he almost became blind for the pain. Still fighting against the burning light, Brak was pushed in a vast courtyard and managed to slam the door, cutting the demonic boys out. A woman of fascinating beauty welcomed, smiling, an admiring Brak, but the real surprise was the hellboy after the woman thanking and calling her Ariane. The darter boy's fingers flashed again and this time the painful light brought darkness to Brak. Brak was transported through the snowy land outside the city, then, after few hours, awakened in a prison, his body frozen, his mind still astonished, but somehow aware that an awful creature, with two red, huge, multi-faceted eyes, was observing him from his lair in the thick webs stuck to the ceiling. The creature became a glowing sphere, floating down, approaching Brak's immobilized body. When the pulsating light faded, Ariane appeared, her eyes full of lust and desire for the barbarian. While sliding into unconsciousness, two voices commented his soul's atrocious fate. (Savage Tales I#8/2) - At his sudden awakening, Brak met the other two prisoners: Friar Jerome, a believer of the unnamed god, and Tyresias, he who once believed. Brak was the third of the triad, the unbeliever. Brak learnt that their common fate was to be slain at dawn, in a rite intended to transfer Yob-Haggoth's power to his emissary: Septegundus, a wizard and Ariane's father. Brak learnt that Tyresias, too, had been chosen by Ariane, in the past, and that she had stolen his soul and his eyes. But the talking among the prisoners didn't last long, a glowing sphere appeared and engulfed Brak, transporting him outside the temple-idol, till Brak awakened again in the skies, on a chariot led by Ariane and hauled through the clouds by a couple of hell horses. During the ride, Ariane offered to spare Brak's life, in change of his soul. She tempted Brak with the vision of Khurdisan the Golden, and Brak was almost bonded to the girl's beauty. But, even if the barbarian didn't understand what was his soul, even if he didn't realize he even had a soul, he knew that the price was too high; he took heed of the taste of evil and rot coming from his instinct, rejecting the offer. Ariane, trusting in the human weaknesses, donated a necklace to Brak. With it, he could summon her simply by whispering her name, and she was sure that he would do it in the moment of his sacrifice. Brak awakened from darkness, again in company of Tyresias and Friar Jerome. This time, laying on the sacrificial altar, watching a revolting sorcerer approaching and exulting: Septegundus! A barbarian's rage coursed through his veins, and Brak shook of the weakness which crippled his body and jumped on the sorcerer, hitting him then reaching his broadsword. He could then wreak his revulsion upon the Darters surrounding him, spreading death, panic and chaos. Septegundus, however, continued his summoning chant, and a rain of toads, lizards, rats and spiders fell from the scarlet skies: the stone idol of Yab-Haggoth then came to life! Kicking and slashing, Brak made his way to the stone statue, and while the chest of the idol was glowing of a scarlet light, Brak sunk the blade in it. The living flesh turned stone, as the idol of Yob-Haggoth had been slain. Septegundus grabbed the sacrificial dagger, pointing at Brak's chest, ready to launch it. Brak, instead, grabbed Ariane's necklace and shouted her name. The beautiful Daughter of Hell appeared instantaneously before Brak, ready to kiss him, but the kiss she received was a cold, metallic one, from the enchanted dagger thrown by her father. She fell, Septegundus shouted his rage, and a thunder from the sky shattered the idol into pieces and powder. Still stunned, Brak saw Septegundus walking away carrying his slain daughter, and he heard a voice in his mind, a promise, that at the end of his road in Khurdisan, he would have been there. Refusing Friar Jerome's stone-cross, Brak left alone. The dragon(Chamber of Chills#2 (fb) - BTS) - More to south, in more temperate regions, Brak was hired by the people of a village to kill the dragon which sometime raided the village. Warned that the dragon was cursed and that steel wasn't enough to kill it, the villagers suggested to Brak to seek Valena, an old woman who hated them, but who was also a witch. (Chamber of Chills#2) - Valena accepted Brak's coins and taught him the way to bypass the spell of the dragon, and kill it forever. Waiting for the midday of the day after, Brak spent the rest of the day with Jonel, the village chief's daughter. He also had her warn her people that nobody was to be present when he had killed the dragon, or the spell of the dragon would have renewed. Near midday, under a stifling, torrid sun, riding his white horse through the valley of the dragon, Brak sensed the monster's presence: the ground thundered under the beast's steps and air was pregnant of its awful breath stench. Meanwhile, in her temple, Valena the witch started to spell her enchantment. The horrible cursed creature appeared before Brak, taller than three men. Roaring, it approached Brak, who, with a single, desperate shove, hit the creature's chest, killing it. Brak didn't rejoiced, he was told by the witch that her enchantment would have forced him to kill any person who had been seen by his eyes, in the hour after the kill, so stood still before the dragon, firmly staring at it. Suddenly, Jonel's voice had him turn back and look at her. Less than an hour later, Brak was again in Valena's temple, a bandage on his eyes. Valena recognized the band, it was the waist-band used by Jonel. Brak took it off and Valena understood that her enchantment was still effective and that Brak was there to kill her. She tried to invoke Yob-Haggoth but Brak's blade was faster than her words of sorcery. Outside the house, Jonel waited for Brak, thanking the fate, because the sun, before, had blinded Brak when he had looked at her. Brak left the village with a doubt: was the witch's enchantment which helped him to kill the dragon, or was it only his arm? Comments: Brak was created John Jakes. Adapted to comics by John Jakes (plot), Dan Adkins (script), Val Mayerik (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks). Brak wore a lion skin with a tail, a little uneasy during a fight. The story in Chambers of Chills is very similar to the legend of the Worm of Lambton. Here are some elements: a monster, a giant reptyle, raided the country around a village; a warrior decided to fight the monster; the warrior asked for help to an old sorceress; the sorceress gave him a suggestion about the weapon to use; the sorceress put a curse over him; he could dispel the curse only killing the first living being the warrior had seen after having killed the monster; the living being planned to be killed was not the first living being seen by the warrior. Brak the Barbarian first appeared in the magazine Fantastic by Ziff-Davis with some novels: Devils in the Walls (1963); When the Idols Walked (1964). Fan fiction depicting Brak vs. the ManwormSome books dedicated to him are Brak the Barbarian (Avon, 1968); Brak the Barbarian vs. the Sorceress (Paperback Library, 1969); Brak the Barbarian vs. the Mark of Demons (Paperback Library, 1969) The Fortunes of Brak (1980). As far as I know, there is not an official chronology of Brak's stories or a map of his world. An attempt to put an order in his wanderings can be found at this site. I only read a little part of his stories, such as "The Sorceress" and "Ghoul's Garden" (Flashing Swords#1 or #2, 1979), which can be chronologically placed after "Devils in the Walls". Here is a little summary. (The Barge of Souls) - Brak saved a young woman from the waters of the river Phrixos. The black haired woman, Rhea, was the heir to the throne of Phrixos and Brak also defended her from the usurpers. He worked for half year in the caves of granite of the Great City, and when gathered enough money, had the Shield of the Horned Lady rebuilt. It was a gift for Rhea, the woman he had loved. But the two separated, Rhea joined to her people and Brak resumed his journey to Khurdisan. (The Sorceress) - Brak was forced by an unnatural landslide to passing through the lands of Strann, the Mountains of the Four Winds. There, he saved a girld from the Manworm and was hired by lord Strann to fight against Nordica, the wicked daughter of a disappeared alchemist, and her demon-dog. Brak saved Pemma, Strann's son, and was captured by the sorceress, Nordica. After killing the Manworm and founding the mad alchemist, Brak, with the help of another follower of the nameless god, managed to defeat the sorceress who was revealed to be only a body possessed by Ariane, back from hell, thanks to her father's powers. (Devils in the Walls (fb)) - Brak passed through the City of Gems in Quran, in the desert of Logol. Wounded, managed to flee from the city in flames. The old Hadrios and his daughter cured him for a month, in Samerind. Even weakened, Brak dedided to leave. In his weakened status Brak was attacked by slavers led by Zaldeb. He managed to kill three of them but he was finally captured. (Devils in the Walls) - Mirande, daughter of Hamur, dead Prince of the Thousand Fangs, bought Brak and convinced him to search Hamur's treasure. The treasure, lying in the broken manor had been cursed by a wizard killed by Hamur, and was defended by Hamur's leopards and demons. The citizens knew of the treasure, but who tried to steal anything from the castle never returned. Brak accepted, in exchange of his freedom. Friar Benedic, a Nestorian, tried to convince him not to enter, but Miranda forced Brak to do it. In the castle, Brak had to fight against the tentacular fogs. He gashed the Nestorian cross on the walls and forced back the curse to possess the six leopards. Brak killed them all defeating the curse. The castle crumbled. In the debris, Brak picked up seven pieces of the treasure and presented the Nestorian with them. Miranda was killed by Zaldeb. Yorah the Bull and the villagers run to search teh rest of the treasure and Brak left the village with Yorah's horse. (Ghoul's Garden) - Three moons after, Brak met a couple of travelers, Friar Hektor of the order of Nestoriamus and Shana, a girl who had a dangerous admirer. The admirer was the son of a powerful wizard, and Brak would save her from the "Ghoul's" lusting desire entering in his "garden in the magic carpet". (Storm in a Bottle) - Not far from the Eastern Mountains which passes led to south, believed to be one of the Sons of the Smoke, Brak was captured in the land of Magnus. A kingdom where Magnus, the Crusher of the World, battled the Sons of the Smoke, a kingdom which a curse denied rain and water. To have his life spared, Brak had to accept a pact with the king: to break the curse, to open the skies and to bring the rain. Almost finding a friend in Captain Xeraph, Brak's investigations let him guess the real identity of Ool, the court shaman, and his schemes. Almost betraying Xearph's trust, Brak fled and sneaked into Ool's mansion, where he had to kill some of his lackeys and also had to fight the eunuch shaman and his illusions. Brak succeeded in freeing the "storm in the bottle" and in killing Ool. But he did not gain freedom. Profile by Spidermay. Notes Category:1968 novelsCategory:Fantasy novelsCategory:Novels by John Jakes